Railway car construction



Sept. 20, 1938. rK. F. NYs'rRoM l I l RAILWAY CAR CONSTRUCTION- Original Filed Abril 10, 1933' 5 Sheets-Sheet l Sp't.-20, 1938. K. F. NYsTROM RAILWAY CAR CON STRUCTION I 1933 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 original Filed April 1o O O G O G 5 sheets-sheet s 2/ 4 7 e 9. f/f m f m o y .lll 0 o /f mw,

K. F. NYSTROM RAILWAY CAR CONSTRUCTION Original Filed April 1o', 193s osso@ sept. 20, 193s.

Sept. 20, 1938,. K. F. NYs'rRoM RAILWAYy CAR CONSTRCTION 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 original Filed April 1o, 1 933 I orne I 5.

K. F, NYSTROM RAILWAY CAR CNSTRUCTION.

Sept. 20, v1938.

Original Filed April lO, 1933 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 PatenteciSept. 20, l1938 AUMTED STATES PATENT voFFlcr:

RAILWAY CAR CONSTRUCTION Karl F. Nystrom, Milwaukee, Wis., assignor to Chicago-Hutchins Corporation, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Delaware Application April 10, 1933, Serial No. 665,414 Renewed February 22, 1938 claims. v(c1. 10s- 409) Current practices in railway car construction mayr be found in the Car Builders Cyclopedia,

1931, published by Simmons-Boardman Publish- This method, however, is very costlyV for it means that much yof the drilling, riveting, and welding must be done on the car ras it is being built, and often the men must Work in very awkward positions. tionable because the metal sheathing cannot be applied until after the sideframes and carlines.

have'been built on the car, and consequently ,much time is wasted.

Primarily the object of the present inventionl is to reduce the cost of car construction by eliminating all of the framework. This is accomplished by building the car body from a plurality of sheet metal sections which are providedilwithfinwardly extending reinforcing flanges sufilcientin size and number to give the body the necessary'strength. y

Other objects of this invention include the use of standard-sized mill sheets for the sheet metal sections, standard-sized veneer sheets for the inside lining, andan arrangement of the flooring whereby all waste is avoided; shaping the car vto reduce wind resistance to a. minimum; providing a floor construction that protects the side joints against ingress of moisture and which enables the floor to be partly or wholly renewed without disturbing any of the' interior finish;y

providing a car vbodylwhich facilitates repairs in case of an accident and reduces the area over which the damage is likely to spread; providing n'ovel arrangements of the longitudinal and v445 latitudinal running boards and the side and end ladders, and a method of constructing la car which embodies the above advantages and furthermore permits the greater part of fabri-l cationto bedonebefore assembly where the v work can be done far more expediently.

' Further andother objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the disclosure proceeds'and the description isy ready in conjunction with the .accompanying drawings,

`sinllvhich J The method is also objec Fig. l is a fragmentary, side elevational view of a box car made in accordance with the present invention; y

Fig. 2, is a sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 4, looking down on the ooring; 5

Fig. 3 is an enlarged ldetail section of one of the corners;

Fig. 4 is a vertical, sectional view taken on the line 4 4 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 5,5 lo

of Fig. 4 looking toward the end wall of the car`, a part of the interior finish being broken away to disclose the structure behind;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail section showing the mating of the end sheet with the roof; 15

Fig. 7 is an enlarged detail section showing the junction between the car body and the side sill, the section being taken on the line 'i-l of fFig. 2;

Fig. 8 is an enlarged detail section through the 20 roofzzthe section being taken on the line 8-8 of Fig Fig. 9. is an enlarged detail sectional view of the upper right hand portion of the car, taken through one of the side plate pans; 25

Fig. 10 is a sectional view taken on the line lll-l0 of Fig. 5;'

Fig. 11 is a sectional view taken on the line H II of Fig. 4.

vWhile the invention has been illustrated as 30 applied to a. box car', it will be understood that this is for the purpose of disclosure only, for the invention is equally applicable to other types of railway cars.

Also the details of construction are merely ilg5 lustrative of the invention and should not be construed as imposing limitations uponthe appended claims except as may be required by the prior art.

.The car chosen to illustrate the invention is a 40 box car having an underframe 20 mounted onI trucks 2|. The car body. generally designated 22, comprises sides 23 and 24, ends 25 and 26, and a roof 21 upon which longitudinal and latitudlnal 'running boards 28 and 29 respectively, are 45 mounted. Side and end ladders 30 and 3l are mounted at the ends of the car according' to A. R. A. specications.

Underframe the underframe is fabricated and comprises standard A. R. A. center sills 32, side sills 33,

end sills 34, body bolsters 35, braces 35. and floor beams 31, all riveted and/or-welded to form a rigid structure.

The side sills 33 (bestshown in Fig. 1) may be termed i angle or channel bars and are placed with their apexes pointing upwardly and outwardly; the outside legs 39 of the side sills project downwardly and then inwardly with a smoothly curved bend 49. Preferably the leg is curved according to the formula Y=2 los X with the origin of the curve at,4l.

The upper legs d2 of the sidesills extend hori zontally inwardly a certain distance, then downwardly as shown at 43 and then inwardly to form shoulders 44. The outside iioor boards of the Aiioor 38 rest upon the shoulders 44 and abut the downwardly extending portions 43. Since the depth of the offset is approximately the thickness of the floor, moisture within the car will drain between the ooring and the side sill rather than' through the joint between the car body and the side sill. This is particularly desirable because it avoids the collection of moisture at the base of the car sides.

It is common practice to lay the licor boards crosswise between the center sills and the side sills but this practice results in unnecessary waste because the oor boards do not come in nine foot lengths which is the span between the side sills of a standard box car. Floor boards, however, do come in fourteen foot length and since a standard car is forty feet six inches in length, three of such standard length floor boards can be used with a minimum amount of Waste.

As shown, the iloor boards aretongue and grooved and rest upon end sills 34, holsters 35,

-iioor beams 31, center sills 32 and side sills 33. The boards are individually bolted to the end sills 34 as shown in Fig. 2 and to the various cross members of the underframe. Although the iiooring may be laid on the underframe before ap- 5 plying the car ends 25 and 26 and the sides 23 and 24, it is preferably laid later to facilitate the welding of the sides and ends to the underframe.

'After' the underframe has been set up and pieced together, the usual striking castings and bolster fillers 46, along with draft gears, couplers, etc. are applied and lthe car is then mounted on the trucks 2|.

' Sides While the underframe is being made. another part of the shop may be at work in fabricating the car sides. In general, the car sides 23 and .24 are composed of a plurality of sheet metal 1 sections 41 provided with inwardly extending top and bottom anges 48 and 49, respectively, and

side anges 50 and 5I, respectively,fthe latter being bent inwardly again at 52 parallel to tbe face of the section. The end sections 53 do not have a ange corresponding to the iiange 52, but are otherwise identical with the other sections.

All of the sections with the exception of the corner sections 53 are made by taking standardsizedmill sheets of 42." width and drawing out 7o the top, bottom and side anges to form what may be termed a pan. All flanges of the pan may be 3%" deep; and the ange 52 may be 2" inwidth, as these dimensions have been found to give the sections the desired strength. The 15 end sections 53 are made from 40" plate also of `r'1/4,` intermediate sections 15, or side sections 41 ing flanges to provide a unitary structure with l0 inwardly extending reinforcing flanges.

Since the door in a box car is ordinarily in the center of thecar, each of the sides will be made up of two units fabricated as described above. These units are mounted on the underframe and'then welded, as indicated at 54 and 95, leaving a space for the door, which is not shown. The door also is made up of two or more panels similar to the ones used in the sides. Preferably the tops and bottoms of the side panels or sections 41 and 53 are slightly curved as indicated at 56 and 51, respectively, to-blend with the roof and side sill curves. After the sides 23 and 24 are mounted on the underframe `and welded in place, furring or nailing strips 59 are secured to the inside of the flanges 50 by bolts 59 to provide a means for fastening the interior iinish to the side walls.

Ends 30 The ends 25 and 26 are preferably made in one piece from 1A" steel plate, corrugated as shown in the drawings. The tops of the ends are flanged inwardly as shown at 60 and then downwardly as shown at Si, the latter anges being adaptedto mate with the adjacent flanges of the roof and be secured to the roof by welding. The bottom of the ends are provided with flanges t2 which rest upon the end sills and are welded to said sills on both the inside and outside of the flange. Side flanges 63 and 64 provided with inwardly turned portions 65 and 66 are welded to the mating flanges of the corner sections 53 of the sides 23 and 24, respectively.

Resting inside each end sheet on the flange 52 is a transverse furring strip t1 rabbeted at 68 to receive the interior finish. The furring strip 51 is secured to the flange E2 by bolts 59, the heads of which are spot-welded to the iiange.

Other transverse furring strips 19, 'M and 12 are secured to the inside of the end sheets 25 and 26 by bolts 13 having their heads spotwelded to the sheet.

The furring strip 12 is, of course, curved to conform with the shape of the roof and has a rabbet 14 to receive the interior finish. j, .55.

'around the marginal edges of the sections. The

tops of the sections are. curved according to the equation Y=8 log X, the origin of the curve being indicated at 19. l i The center sections 14 are made from No..16 gauge steel plate, and the intermediate sections 15 from No. 15 gauge steel plate, both plates having a width of 32,which is a standard mill size. The side sections 16 are made from No.' 7 gauge steel plate, which is considerably heavier than the plate used for either the center sections p the same length, as indicated in Fig. 1.

andere as either the center or intermediate sections 14 and 15 (Fig. 1). The purpose of this arrangement is to cause the heavier gauge metal in the side plate sections to oppose any tendency of the center and intermediate pans to buckle along the latitudinal flanges. The heavier metal of the side plate sections is also desirable because these sections act as a longitudinal beam and strengthen the center portion of the car which is being constantly/'subjected to vertical stresses. By making the roof into center, intermediate, and side plate sections, -the former two may be made of comparatively light metal, because of the small proportion ofthe total load which they carry, while the side pl'ate sections are made of heavier metal to withstand the greater stresses to whichthey are subjected.

Furring .strips 19 are secured by bolts=80 along one Ylongitudinal and onelatitudinal flange 11 of each section. The furring is, of course, curved to cnform with the curvature of the roof.

The roof is fabricated by taking the center, intermediate, and side plate sections and bolting together Ithe mating flanges. The sections may then be welded together both on the inside andoutside of the flanges to provide a unitary roof structure, which is self-supporting and requires vno supplemental framework.

After all the sections have been welded together both longitudinally and latitudinally, thev furring strips 19 are applied to the flanges 11 and are secured in place by the bolts 80. The side plate sections 16 have straight edge furring 8| which constitute continuations of the side furring 58.

v After the roofsections have Abeen welded together, metal saddles 82, which support the run-- [ning board sections, are welded along the top also welded on the car roof before the roof is.

seam. The saddles are in the form of U-brackets provided with outwardly extending flanges 83 upon which thel running board 28 rests. The running board may then be applied tothe car roof or may be later applied when the roof has been assembled on the car.

'I'he latitudinal running board brackets 84 are mounted on the car.

'The carA roof, which is now completely welded and is provided with the necessary furring and with the necessary running board brackets and ksaddles may now be lifted by a suitable hoist and placed on thecar sides and ends. The top flanges 48 of the side sections are then welded Ato the bottom flanges of the side plate sections and the end angeslof the roof are welded to the downwardly extending flanges 6I of the car ends to make the entire car body a unitary structure.

Interior finish.

wooden strips (see Fig. 9) the main outline of' which includes the dotted line portion indicated at 9|. The side plates, however, are notched at 92 to` accommodate .the latitudinal. flanges Vand. furring of the side plate sections. 'Ihe side plates are secured in place by fastening them to the side plate furring and to the lower longitudinal furring of theintermediate sections of the roof. The upper edges .of the side plates are rabbeted at 93 to accommodate the eeiling lining 80.

rThe side lining 81 comprises a plurality of veneer sheets which are but slightly smaller than the standard sized sheets. 'I'he sheets are .trimmed to the desired size and then fastened to the furring that is provided.

'I'he end lining is also veneer and is secured to the transverse furring strips 10 and 1|. The upper .end lining 89 is curved to conform to the roof and -is securedto the transverse furring strips 1| and 12. The ceiling sheets 80 which are also veneer extend from the center of the `roof to the side plates and are pressed into conformity with the roof furring and then secured in place to .the furring. A batten strip '84 covers the joint between the two halves of the ceiling lining.

One feature of this invention is the fact that the side, end and ceiling linings may be removed independently of one another. 'I'his is accomplished by forming the corners as shown in Fig.,3 with the end lining 88 seated within the rabbeted edge 14 of the furring12. In order that the Joint ywill be Weatherproof and waterproof, a galvanized iron strip 85 is iitted into the corner so that a slight spreading of the side and end sheets will not permit moisture to enter the car.

In a similar manner, the joint between the roof and the car end is provided with an ironl strip 96, and serves the same function.

Longitudinal running board The running board 28 is made in'four sections.

the end sections of which are supported by brackets 91 which are welded to the car ends. Each section comprises three boards 88 which are united at their ends by U-shaped metal strips 88 embedded in the wood.v The boards are also united at their mid-sections by a wooden saddle |00 to which the boards are suitably secured and which is shaped at the bottom to conform to the curvature of the roof.

Therefore, to apply the running boards to the i roof, it is only necessary to put them in place with vtheir ends resting on the metal saddles 82 and bolt them to the saddles by bolts 10|, the metal saddles 82 having already been welded to the car roof.

Latitudnal running board Side and end ladders Side and end ladders ordinarily have their rungs fastened, to; the sides by bolts which pass clear through the body. Consequently, when a rung is broken it is necessary to unload the carand disturb part of the interior finish in order to remove the bolts holding the broken rung.v

' with each other and welded together so that when` In the present invention, this objectionable practice is obviated by having the sides |85 of the ladders and 3| provided with offset portions |06 to which the rungs |01 may be fastened. The rivet |08 or other fastening means employedfor securing the rung to the side need only pass through the rung andthe side. It does not enter the car body. Therefore, whenever a rung is broken, it may be quickly replaced.

Theside and end ladders Sil and 3|, respectively, are secured to the car body by welding.

A railway car made in accordance with this invention is strong, durable and in case of accident may be easily repaired by replacing the damaged sections. The car is much cheaper to build than those in common use; presents a smooth exterior finish, which in combination with the shaping of the car reduces wind resistance to a minimum; and can be constructed in less time due to the fact that the several components of the car may be made in different parts of the shop and then assembled.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In a railway car, the combination with an underframe of a car body superstructure supported thereon, the sides and roof ofwhich comprise a plurality of sheet metal panned sections welded together to form a unitary structure with a smooth exterior surface and with longitudinal and lateral inwardly extendingiianges welded to each other forming in abutting sections a network of reinforcements, the corresponding anges of adjacent sections being continuous with each other and sufiicient to give the car bodyadequate trussing strength without the necessity of 'separate supporting vframe work in the super- -ly and latitudinally of the car, the correspondingY flanges of adjacent sections being continuous all sections, side and roof, have been united, the said flanges will afford adequate trussing strength to enablel said superstructure to resist bui and draft shocks and the pressure of lading without supplemental frame work, there being at least a plurality of laterally abutting sections between including a plurality of parallel longitudinaliianges in said roof sections, said side plate sections being sufiicient in strength to form the top cord of a. truss.

4. A railway car body superstructure comprising a plurality of sheet metal panned sections.

secured together to form a unitary structure', said sections including separate side, side plate and roof sections, inwardly directed longitudinal and lateral iianges on the sections forming stiffening elements for resisting the usual body strains, the corresponding anges of adjacent sections being continuous with each other, 'said flanges being suflicient in number and dimensions to avoid the necessity of supplemental frame work in the superstructure, and including a plurality of parallel longitudinal fianges in saidroof sections, the metal of which said side plate sec.

tions are made being of heavier gauge thanv the metal in the roof sections. V

5. In a railway car, the combination with an underframe, of a car body superstructure supported thereon, the sides and roof of whichcomprise a plurality of sheet metalpanne'd sections welded together to forma unitary structure with a smoothexterior surface and withlongltudinal and laterally inwardly extending" anges welded to each other forming in abutting sectionsva network of reinforcements, ythe corresponding ,anges of adjacent sections being continuous with each other and suificient Ito'givel the car body adequatev trussingstrength withoutthe necessity of separate supporting frame vwork in the'superstructure, there being at least a plurality of` laterally abutting sections `between the longitudinal roof center and each side wall of the car, furring secured to the iianges of 'said panned sections, and interior finish attached'to the furring for coveringsaid flanges, said finish comprising side lining plates, lining sheets beneath said side lining plates, and a flat ceiling sheet pressed into conforxnityr with the curvature of the roof abutting against said side lining plates and secured to the roof furring. KARL F. NYSTROM. 

